A Postcard from Denmark

September 30, 2015 4 Comments

I am Nadya, your blogger friend from Writing 101. I would like to collaborate with you for a post in my blog. It is called “Postcard from Denmark”.

If you’re happy to do this, I would be very happy. It is easy. What you need to do is write about mother care in Denmark, such as how long is maternity (and paternity leave), what will the government give to new mother, what is the healthcare facilities, and other related things that you know. You can also add about the culture, such as do Danish people usually have a lot of babies? On average, what age do Danish have their first baby? Does grandparents help caring babies? etc.

A lot is done from the state to secure a good start for a child. Every new pregnant woman and her partner/ husband get information from the official health authorities. Danish mothers are in their late twenties before they get their first baby.

In the 1920s the Danish authorities were aware of being behind other countries, we are typically compared with, on the annual death rate of new-born babies. A leaflet was made to instruct the mothers how to act, but it didn’t seem to have any effect.

The high mortality had to do with lousy housing, hygiene and too little knowledge on the right nutrition for babies. Nurses were trained to go out in specific areas three different places of the country to teach the mothers on these health issues. The nurses had to have a specific personality to be chosen.

Modest, but not insecure, certain but not too authoritative. These traits of personality are still needed when you enter the private sphere of all different kind of homes.

After some years a health law was made to spread this practice all over the country.

General health care during pregnancy and after the birth

A book on the subject baby health care is available both as a book and online. It’s a supplement for the check-ups at the doctor and midwife.

You are taught about the right food, vitamins and minerals, to avoid smoking cigarets, drinking alcohol or taking drugs or medicine more than is vitally necessary.

in England this summer listening to a young mother

If you have any problems with addiction, you will get exclusive help and support during the pregnancy.

The Health Visitor also visit during the pregnancy to prepare the new family on how to cope with a new-born. That’s usually done about the 30 week of pregnancy where the woman is very open to talking about the future child.

Late in the pregnancy, the focus is the birth.

You get three examinations at your own doctor, and you are free to choose where to give birth.

You are offered 8 checks up and talks with a midwife from week 13-15 in the pregnancy. Some choose these consultations in a group so that some networking is starting with other future mothers.

Nowadays most women go home after the birth already some hours after the birth. Even first-timers do that. When the husband/partner is involved in everything from the start of the pregnancy, it’s convenient to go home to your own bed surroundings.

But if you don’t have that secure backup it will become a terrible start at home. New mothers with problems in breastfeeding will be allowed to stay longer in the ward to start the nursing properly.

The midwife will make a follow-up consultation on the birth as quickly as possible.

That is to get feedback on the birth and to help the new mother express what she experienced.

Maternity leave

Most are allowed to stop working four weeks before the birth, and many leave eight weeks before. It depends on the agreement at that workplace. The leave is paid.

After the birth, the mother has 14 weeks of leave, and the father has two weeks in the same period. After the 14 weeks, they have 32 weeks where they can choose who is going to have the leave the father or the mother. You get paid, but the tariff is different from a workplace to workplace.

I think it has had a very positive effect on the new families that the mother can stay at home so long and breastfeed without stress. The infant has time to learn to eat more solid food before he or she is going out to daycare. Most small children in Denmark do that from 8-10 months. It’s still not so usual to see fathers take an extended leave to take care of a baby. But the fathers are so much more engaged in everything about the responsibility of the baby, and that is very visible to be seen in the streets or at places like swimming centres where babies are taken to swim lessons.

A five-month-old baby and his father.

Health visiting and home doctor

All check-ups at the doctor, midwife and the home visits by the health visitor are free. We pay high taxes, and most are very glad that money is not involved in these health consultations. Nobody should choose not to show up or have a dialogue at home with the Health Visitor because of payment.

Our health visitor offer is changing from nearly only visits at home in the family to group teachings for both parents on systematic themed education. All this is to build up knowledge for the parents to understand the need of the baby and to help the parents build up a feeling of still deeper connection to the child. All this is also meant to prevent child abuse and violence.

As Health Visitors we are obliged to work together with the families and their doctors, social authorities to help children who are in danger of not thriving.

We talk with the families about preventing accidents, how to make healthy food, how to help the children to sleep enough and to be stimulated emotionally, physically and to support the motor development. We do a screening for depression at 8 weeks and maybe again later.

Seven months baby/Blad

It demands a very high moral to balance in these two worlds. You get insight into the intimacy of family life and must handle all the information with discretion.

The home doctor has regular check-ups and vaccinations on the child until the age of five and later at school the Health Visitor take over the health screening. All of this is free as well as examinations at the dentist until the child is eighteen years old.

Daycare

The municipality is obliged to offer daycare to the child is six months old if that is needed by the family. It’s quite expensive, but you get reduced prices if you have low-income or you are without work. Even though the conditions are so much better now than earlier we still don’t have many babies. I think two children are the average and the mothers are close to thirty years of age before they get their first child. For many that have infertility as a consequence.

Everybody wants an education before starting a family and then comes the hunt for a good job. The fact is that it’s easier to become a mother taking an education than after because proper support is given during the time of the training. Students get support co-called S.U. If you have a child, you get the double amount. It’s not a lot but better than nothing.

You have a right to be off of a certain amount of days every year for taking your child to different appointments at the doctor/ hospitals etc. and the first day of a child’s sickness one of the parents can be off as well, and that’s with full salary.

Our conditions are attractive for workers from the East European countries, and these young immigrants are willing to take the jobs that the Danes don’t want. Then we have a growing Muslim population who tend to get much more children than the original people here and many are not working for one reason or the other.

This “postcard” became a bit longer than a standard postcard, I had so much to tell you, Nadya.